The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)

Isolating Incidents
One of the most prevalent, yet not-so-obvious causes of
mediocrity is isolating incidents. We do this when we mistakenly
assume that each choice we make, and each individual action we
take, is only affecting that particular moment, or circumstance. For
example, you may think it’s no big deal to miss a workout,
procrastinate on a project, or eat fast food because you’ll get a “do-
over” tomorrow. You make the mistake of thinking that skipping
that workout only affects that incident, and you’ll make a better
choice next time. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
We must realize that the real impact and consequence of each
of our choices and actions—and even our thoughts—is
monumental, because every single thought, choice, and action is
determining who we are becoming, which will ultimately determine
the quality of our lives. As T. Harv Eker said in his best-selling
book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, “How you do anything is how
you do everything.”
Every time you choose to do the easy thing, instead of the right
thing, you are shaping your identity, becoming the type of person
who does what’s easy, rather than what’s right.
On the other hand, when you do choose to do the right thing
and follow through with your commitments—especially when you
don’t feel like it—you are developing the extraordinary discipline
(which most people never develop) necessary for creating
extraordinary results in your life. As my good friend, Peter Voogd,
often teaches his clients: “Discipline creates lifestyle.”

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For example, when the alarm clock goes off, and we hit the
snooze button (the easy thing), most people mistakenly assume that
this action is only affecting that moment. The reality is that this type
of action is programming our subconscious mind with the
instructions that it is okay for us to not follow through with the
things we intended to do. (More on that in the next chapter: Why
Did You Wake Up This Morning?)
We must stop isolating incidents and start seeing the bigger
picture. Realize that everything that we do affects who we’re
becoming, which is determining the life that we will ultimately
create and live. When you see the big picture you start to take the
alarm clock more seriously. When the buzzer goes off in the
morning and you’re tempted to snooze, you start thinking, Wait—
this is not who I want to become—someone who doesn’t even have
enough discipline to get out of bed in the morning. I’m getting up
now, because I am committed to __________ (waking up early,
hitting my goals, creating the life of my dreams, etc.)

Always remember that who you’re becoming is far more
important than what you’re doing, and yet it is what you’re doing
that is determining who you’re becoming.
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